Aurora R12, Dell M.2 NVMe SSD help

Question

I ordered this: Dell M.2 PCIe NVME Gen 3x4 Class 35 2230 Solid State Drive - 256GB | Dell USA and when trying to turn on the PC after installing the SSD my monitor doesn't seem to pick up any video. Usually when turning my PC on the monitor turns on as well. The part is 100% compatible with my system. All drivers including BIOS updated. Every video i've seen on installing just shows the installation of the actual SSD then how to get your PC to recognize the new SSD. It's just not getting to that point at all.... Only one way to insert the SSD into it's port. Defected part? I use anti-static bracelet and handle everything with great care. Everything that was un-hooked got put back in order. Not sure what's going on.

JOcean · Answer

A little more information would help. Did you clean install Windows or clone the old drive to the new SSD? Is the new drive the boot drive and if not did you allocate the new drive (I assume it is now the boot drive)?

Tesla1856 · Answer

Too many Aliens in the ship's Engineering Control Room?

I'm guessing you are using the motherboard's on-board M.2/NVMe slot, right?

Yeah, when inserted, it should allow the Aurora-R12 to Post properly (with video). On my Aurora-R6, any NVMe-SSD in that slot shows in a special-line-item in BIOS (on the main-page).

Go into Windows, Control Panel, Disk Management. It will detect it and ask to Initialize as GPT. Then, you format as NTFS. If possible, best to leave 5%-10% un-allocated free-space at end of drive for Over-Provisioning.

Try turning-off SecureBoot temporarily. Maybe then sent you one that has an OS pre-loaded on it (not blank).

Do you have another machine to test it in?

Tesla1856 · Answer

@Prometheus_ wrote:

I ordered this: Dell M.2 PCIe NVME Gen 3x4 Class 35 2230 Solid State Drive - 256GB | Dell USA and

The part is 100% compatible with my system.

Your Aurora-R12 is 100% compatible with just about any M.2/NVMe-SSD .They are usually 2280 (22mm x 80mm) form-factor.

For a C-Drive, I usually recommend 512gb as the minimum. That will hold all Windows, all your programs, a few favorite games, and leave some (necessary) free space.

Prometheus_ · Answer

Right so this type of storage obviously isn't the one I want. Just looking to expand storage space without jumping through hoops. Will be returning parts. 2022 and they don't have detailed information readily available on their products? Absolutely no way to just plug this in and use as a storage device? Lol. Even the sales rep with broken English assured me it was a simple plug in, type a few commands to recognize new hard drive then I'm good to go. Nope.

Vanadiel · Answer

Enter BIOS using F2 key during POST, and see if the drive shows up and is detected by the BIOS.

Tesla1856 · Answer

@Prometheus_ wrote:

Right so this type of storage obviously isn't the one I want. Just looking to expand storage space without jumping through hoops. Will be returning parts. 2022 and they don't have detailed information readily available on their products? Absolutely no way to just plug this in and use as a storage device? Lol. Even the sales rep with broken English assured me it was a simple plug in, type a few commands to recognize new hard drive then I'm good to go. Nope.

See Page # 11 in Aurora-R12 service manual pdf. Looks like that baby-one will only work in M.2 slot #8 (after moving stud forward). It will definitely NOT work in M.2 slot #20 (that is only for a WiFi card). If there is a second M.2/NVMe capable slot on the MB, it's not called-out in manual.

Looks like an OEM clone of someone else's SSD. Dell puts thousands of these baby-SSDs in OptiPlex, etc.

I've never been one to base upgrade plans on "easy". Good choice and reliable ... are more my thing.

I'm assuming you somehow got an Aurora-R12 without a SSD. If you add (your first) NVMe-SSD, pretty sure it must be your new C-Drive.

Alienware Desktops

Was this post helpful?